Rape victim pleads for help for needed surgery

This is the second of a series of articles on Nusa Tenggara Barat villagers employed overseas. Following the steady stream of workers returning home with stories of the abuses that they suffered abroad, our reporter Ridwan Sijabat visited the province last month and talked with some of the villagers about their experiences.

A 27-year-old female migrant worker, Anika (not her real name), lies motionless on a mattress in a small hut in Dalam village, Taliwang district, Sumbawa regency, West Nusa Tenggara, waiting for donations so she can have surgery to treat multiple fractures. The operation will cost about Rp 20 million (US$2,350).

Her husband Mansursyah, who is a communal farmer, told The Jakarta Post recently that he had to take his wife out of the Mataram General Hospital two weeks ago because he could no longer afford to pay the hospital bills.

"The hospital recommended surgery in Surabaya or Jakarta to treat the fractures to both her legs and chin but I don't have the money. That's why I had to bring her home."

He said he received Rp 12.6 million from PT Jamin Harapan Abadi, the labor export company that sponsored and sent his wife to work as a domestic helper in Saudi Arabia in July 2002, in compensation for his wife's abuse at the hands of her employer, but he used the money to cover her medical costs in Jakarta, Mataram and Taliwang, as well as their daily needs since her arrival in Jakarta on June 15, 2003.

Barely eking out a living, Mansursyah has no monthly income or assets to sell to cover the surgery for his wife.

"I still have a couple of million rupiah but it is not enough to pay for the surgery my wife needs," he said, adding that he was thankful to the labor export company and the Panca Karsa Foundation, which has provided legal aid.

Looking pale and weak, Anika can only lie on the mattress and take vitamin pills she received from Mataram General Hospital. With the help of her husband, she replaces the bandages on her legs each morning.

Anika said she could ask nothing more of her husband because he does not have a permanent job and he has spent all of his time over the last four months taking care of me.

"I have asked him to divorce me but he refused to leave me alone in my suffering."

"The local manpower and transmigration office and the Panca Karsa Foundation have pledged to look for donors to help me, but so far there is no indication that I will undergo the surgery any time soon," she said.

Anika said her suffering began two weeks after she arrived in Riyadh to work as a domestic helper.

She said she was dismissed from the first family she was placed with after the wife asked her husband to return Anika to the labor agency because she accidentally touched her hand while they were washing the dishes.

"Through the labor agency, I was placed with another employer, a police officer in Riyadh," Anika said.

Two weeks after her new placement began, Anika's employer raped her. "After he took his wife to the hospital to give birth to their first child in the evening, my new employer forced me to watch a pornographic movie with him. That night he entered my bedroom and raped me."

The following day Anika jumped from the second floor of the house and ran to the nearby police station, where, she learned, her employer worked.

"After a long negotiation, I finally decided to accept the police's advice and return to my employer's house," she said.

After several months, Anika was raped again. She says she cannot remember how many times she was raped, but it happened on numerous occasions.

Anika said she became desperate to stop the rapes. "I took a knife and hid it under my pillow and tried to stab him when he tried to rape me again. He grabbed the knife and hit me in the face and stomach. He tortured me until I was almost dead."

"I regained consciousness in the hospital. A nurse told me that a Good Samaritan found me dying on the side of the road leading to the airport and brought me to the hospital. I had been in the hospital for seven months. I also underwent surgery to repair the fractures to my chin and legs."

After her condition improved, a Saudi Arabian labor agency secured a passport for her from the Indonesian Consulate General in Riyadh to sent her home.

After arriving at Terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Anika, accompanied by her husband, reported the case to the manpower ministry. "I was sent to the National Police Hospital in Kramat Jati (East Jakarta), where I stayed until I was allowed to come back here."

Endang Sulistiyani, coordinator of the Panca Karsa Foundation, said she and Anika's husband had filed a complaint with the Mataram Police but so far no action had been taken.

"It is difficult for the police to process the case since Mansursyah settled the case peacefully with PT Jamin Harapan Abadi. Both sides signed an agreement that the company would pay Rp 12.6 million in compensation and Mansursyah and his family would not bring the case to court," Endang said.

Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea vowed on Friday to look into the case, saying it was the first he had heard of the incident.

"We will summon Mansursyah and the company that sent Anika overseas to get detailed information on the case. Then we will take concrete action to solve the case," the minister vowed.